Germany's Nora Baltruweit returns to PWR after ACL recovery

New Exeter Chiefs lock Nora Baltruweit is returning to Premiership Women’s Rugby after her previous spell in England was ended by an injury nightmare.

After playing in her native Germany for RC Aachen and RSV Köln and then College Rifles RFC and Auckland Storm in New Zealand, Baltruweit moved to Wasps.

During this time, she studied at St Mary’s University in Twickenham and spent five seasons with Wasps until suffering an ACL injury in early 2020.

Coming back from that was going to be tough enough, but the Covid-19 pandemic ended up making matters worse as it denied her access to equipment needed for recovery.

After a painstaking road back to fitness, Baltruweit went to play for Stade Bordelais in France, feeling she was not ready to get back into PWR, but is now ready to make up for lost time with Exeter.

“It all ties back to the injury I sustained in my last game at Wasps,” Baltruweit said. “Nine months of rehab turned into three years of rehab. That is why I left England, knowing the standard of the game was increasing. I could see that when I was playing and then it only got better when I was out.

“After three years of rehab, I didn’t think it was right to go straight back into the highest level of rugby in the world.

“That is why I went to France. I am a committed player, I am not satisfied playing a low level, and in France the standard is very good – it’s just not as intense in terms of number of games.

“I also was not sure if my knee could still do it, if my body could still do it, if I mentally wanted to still do it.

“That is why I then came back to England. The answer to those questions is yes, I want to be playing at the highest level again.”

Baltruweit combines her rugby with her career as an associate lecturer in biomechanics, while also working for a leading motion-capture company.

And the 27-year-old is keen to make the most of living on the beautiful South West coast thanks to her new Chiefs deal.

“My job has been incredible because it is fulfilling and interesting,” she said. “There is development within my role, which is important to me.

“I am lucky I am able to work full-time while playing. That is not a given, purely from the employer letting the employee doing it.

“I have moved around but it has been the same job. I was quite open with my employer all the way through, I am lucky to be working for a small company and they care about their employees.

“It was easy to come to Exeter. I know a few of the old Waspies and some friends down here, and living by the sea is nice!”

Baltruweit’s rugby story is an unlikely one, just for the fact that she is from a country where the sport is not exactly front and centre.

When asked how a girl from Germany managed to get into it, she said: “In Germany, you can talk to nine of 10 people and they would not know what [rugby] is.

“It was by chance I went to a primary school and one my friends’ family was into it. Some cities don’t have a rugby club at all and there are only two I can think of that have more than one, so options are limited.

“Germany is extreme in that there is football and then no other sport. In the news, there is just football, which is very sad.

“There is not a lot of work being done to change that. Football culture is also quite extreme, and it is all negativity. You need to fit this specific type of body, which never agreed with me, and my parents always saw that as well.

“I was the only girl at the rugby club, but they were so excited to have me and were so welcoming, it became acceptance.”

She has joined an Exeter squad already packed with quality and one looking to improve on finishing fourth in the table last season before being beaten by eventual champions Gloucester-Hartpury in the semi-finals.

On her ambitions for the campaign, Baltruweit said: “A successful year will be that I am still in one piece and I can lift my arms above my head without any pain!

“That is my priority and also playing some games. I am aware I am competing against full-time athletes, so I am not striving for the starting line-up, but I am aiming for a regular game-time from the bench.

“The PWR Series will be very important for me. As a team, we are aiming big and that is to get into the final.”